Fouché, Nicole
The Limits of the Expert Knowledge of Jazz in France: La Revue musicale, 1920-1939
- 2001.
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All things considered, one may claim that, during the 1920s and 1930s, La Revue musicale, a serious (and very Parisian) musical publication became aware of the importance of jazz for the French musical elite (made up of connoisseurs, critics and musicians). Well-known professional musical critics —Henry Prunières, André Cœuroy, Arthur Hoerée, Hugues Panassié and others — expressed the view that jazz was indeed a new combination of music, rhythm and life, but they eventually failed in their effort to understand it because of certain cultural barriers : jazz and Negro cultural values, jazz and improvisation.